1129 Tasting Notes

Yeah, I order Caramel Cheesecake Black tea without second thought! Very pumped with all these cheesecake teas, oooh yeah!

I had just finished making a huge meaty lasagna and hadn’t washed my hands of sticky noodles and cheese when the mail dude came with my packages. I got this tea (CCC) and Benson’s snuggly rabbit bed! Benson is shedding like a beast and I’m hoping this bed will attract all the black fur from flying everywhere. I’m tired of getting rabbit fur in my tea!

DRY: Strong, caramel liquor smell.

STEEPED: Steeps up a dark red/brown tea. Smells like black tea and sweet.

TASTE: A strong robust black tea with a caramel sweetness. I’m getting some bitterness and slight astringency at the end.

Sweetened with plain rock sugar, I find the caramel comes out more + smoother and the tea becomes creamy cheesecake twang like. Bitterness disappears, but theres still some dryness at the end (unless it’s leftover from me drinking it unsweetned). Totally delicious sweetened!

WHO’D WANT A PIECE OF THISTEA: Black tea drinkers – the black tea is quite strong I find, but it is good tasting black. Also good for tea peeps that like to add sweetener to their tea.

COMMENTS: I actually was disappointed while drinking this unsweetened as it was bitter and kinda caramelly. Sweetened, this CCC is amazing!
Of course, maybe others should tinker with the temperature and steep times more to see if this could come out better.

Overall, pretty good but I personally like the recent Apricot Cheesecake Shou Mei from 52 teas much more. I am glad to have this tea and will enjoy it when I’m in the mood for a sweetened black.
(cheesecake black tea latte? I always say lattes and never made them these days, too hot still is southern california!)

This tea got better and better the longer it sat in my fridge! Not as sweet as the hot version, but much more bright, stronger pineapple taste. The coconut is really subtle though, so cold steeped Tropicalia isn’t as pina coladay.

Very good, though I prefer it hot, or maybe I’ll try it prepared as iced tea… or latttte!!!!

Tropicalia has been haunting me for awhile. It’s sitting there in my “need to try” pile, unopened for a couple months now. I know I forgot about it for awhile, then recently I just keep putting it off. With the fall collection out now, I felt I needed to try this tea in the event I love it and need to buy more before it gets phased out.

DRY: Very sweet and pineapply with a hit of coconut. Almost a pina colada! Very cute sugar hearts in this!

STEEPED: Bright yellow and lovely pina colada smell! I snacked on 50% of the steeped fruits in my steeper, so much for a resteep!

TASTE: Gently sweet pineapple and apple with a great coconut aftertaste. The more I drink and the more it cools, Tropicalia gets more sweet and pineapply.
Note: I was really generous and did 2t for one cup of tea.

WHO’D LIKETHISTEA: Pinacolada peeps, get on this now! Very good tea that has no caffeine but also no chamomile/rooibos.

COMMENTS: very tasty! The more I sip, the more I like this tea. I feel like I want to dance around drinking this wearing dinosaur pajamas. I’d love this tea to be stronger, maybe I’ll jack up the dry quantity some more.

STEEPED: Strong lemony + lemongrass scent that I can smell from far away! Steeped up to a oaky brown.

TASTE: Lemony with a touch of lemon grass – creamy earth background. Very very little tart – and what was there was a pleasant experience.
Sweetened, this GMS becomes more creamy silky with lemon zesty tang to it. I think I like GMS sweetened.
Lemony drop tea burps!

COMMENTS: One of the best lemon teas I’ve tried! I’m thinking this would make a great lemonaid (mmm.. caffeine spiked lemonaid). I enjoy the creamy taste and the excellent wake up feeling. GMS is like sunny and cheerful, makes we wanna play a sunny Plants Vs Zombies level this morning while drinking this tea.

A similar tea would be 52 Tea’s Sun and Cloud Mist – which has a mystery fluff taste, but also a strong lemon tea. I say I prefer GMS because it is much less finicky to steep. S&CM can get bitter if oversteeped 30 seconds. That and I love guayusa tea!

The blender ball thing did create a frothy top, at first it didn’t look like it was working, but about 30 seconds later the matcha was looking good.

Very tasty matcha with a soft hit of caramel! Next time I need to do a milk version!

EDIT: tried the blender ball + soy milk = LOTS OF FROTH!!!! Doubled in size!
However, I didn’t sift the matcha and the blender ball wasn’t able to break up all the little bits, so sifting the matcha is a step that cannot be skipped.

I was planning on trying Good Morning Sunshine, but I was craving peanut butter oatmeal. I figured lemon tea would clash, but cider would not. In the end, it didn’t matter as I gobbled up my oatmeal before I started on my tea.

STEEPED: Transformed into a strong spicy baked apple smell! Stronger than the smell of the dry tea!

TASTE: Gently earthy and apple taste with spices dancing through the cup. Not bitter, tart or watery. The whole tea is on a mellow level, so nothing is overpowering. The sips also change, some sips I get more earthy guayusa taste, others more spice. The apple reminds me of a baked apple without sugar.

Sweetened with plain rock sugar, the apple brightens and warms up and the tea becomes slightly creamy. Less guayusa earthy taste.

I think I like the non-sweetened version more. There’s a natural sweeteness that does the job enough for me, and I love that guayusa taste.

WHO’D LIKETHISTEA: Someone who wants a spice tea that isn’t strong. This is a great breakfast tea for someone who drinks cream/sugared chais to switch out to a tea they don’t need the cream and sugar for.

COMMENTS: I love that this tea is not tart at all! No cardamon either, UGGGCARDAMON! I dislike cardamon after a coworker told me try adding cardamon pods to my coffee or chais and it was traumatizingly bad.

Again, guayusa teas make me feel full, and I could barely finish my cup because I was feeling sloshy.

Overall, very good! Tempting to get more than this tea – see if I start craving it and going crazy.

Preparation

Feeling tired after a long bike ride to the post office, so I resteeped this morning’s tea, since it was still in my DT Steeper. I don’t often resteep teas, I guess I figure I don’t need to since I have so many teas, but I am missing out an extra experience.

Wow, this tea is just as good the second time around – a little less creamy and silky though but still delicious cantaloupey.

Preparation

lol…what the rabbit fur didn’t add alittle extra to the tea?grins try putting the cup higher up when your brushing your rabbit or any other animal, or use a cup with a lid, or try placing a small saucer on top. I got kitties, so been there, done that…..

I was planning to drink a guayusa today, but I woke up so alert and crazy feeling. Must of been all the matcha I drank yesterday – I need to do that again! I was practically climbing the walls all evening and was on a crazy arm bar streak in jiu jitsu!

So this morning my nuttyness continued and I tried using up my crappy matcha and made matcha pancakes – didn’t turn out as there must be some stabilizer or something in my crappy matcha mix that just threw off the pancake batter to stay in one piece, so i got pancakes in bizzare chunks that taste bitter – might be the temperature or my crappy already bitter matcha. Whatever, still eating it!

With that, I need a fun white tea to test out too! How about Cantaloupe & Cream! (C&C)

COMMENTS: I can see why this tea won an award at a Tea Championship – very elegant, well made tea.

Sweetened, this tea is a nice sweet treat, but unsweetened there was so much depth with that yummy sweet veg taste, melon and creamy and yum! DANG!

Since I recently tried WMX, they are kind of similar in a melony sense, but C&C has much more depth and levels to it. MWX has no veggieness, but a honey floral edge – like a cute floral summer dress verses a silk evening dress. I dunno, I’m rambling and entering the creepy crazy tea description zone!

However, on a personal level I prefer WMX for its watermelon goodness as I prefer watermelons to cantaloupe, but both teas are amazing. C&C would make a fab cold steep I think!

Preparation

Hahaha, on an ‘crazy arm bar streak’. How is the BJJ training going? I’m a big UFC fan and love the BJJ component. My hubby trained in BJJ for a short time then his gym closed. I did some Krav Maga training for a few years but it was really rough on the arthritis.

That’s so awesome! Good luck with the training. Love the fighters you mentioned. GSP just seems like he has really great work ethic and Ronda is just awesome. Makes me mad sometimes when we go to UFC parties and I hear a few guys say women shouldn’t be fighting its not right. Women put on the best show at the last Strike Force. I’m a big fan of Anderson Silva. I know he’s a bit cocky but I can’t help it.

I saw the last Strikeforce event in person, so many female fans in the crowd, it was great! I can’t wait for the next Invicta event – probably in a few years women will be in more events as the talent pool grows, despite some guys thinking women shouldn’t be fighters

That’s awesome. We have yet to go to a live event. I suspect we will see more and more women fighters in the future too. The attitude has definitely been changing as women have had some great fights but still a ways to go. Could definitely use more Ronda Rouseys.

I was raised on floral oolongs and green teas, mostly “beauty” teas. Early on as a kid, I can guzzle an entire pot of tea (or two) at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.
These days I like adventurous and interesting tea blends. I’m fearless in trying new teas! I’m into oolong, pu’erh, white, green, black, guayusa, mate and herbals. I’m not into red rooibos but I keep buying it anyway.

The tea brand that got me started into loose leaf teas was DAVIDsTea. I used to live in Vancouver Canada and had access to their shop, however that is now limited since I moved to southern California.

However, the perks of living in the US is ultra cheap, fast shipping! Since then, my tea stash insanely expanded.